Burst mode reception is one of the issues that is addressed in optical networks that use time division multiple access (TDMA), such as in some passive optical networks (PONs). In such networks, the receivers can receive incoming digital signal bursts at varying and hence unknown signal levels (unknown zero and one bit levels) and unknown clock phase. The varying signal levels and clock phase can be caused by the signal modulation schemes and/or any distortion of the signal passing through an optical fiber, e.g. due to fiber dispersion and polarization mode dispersion (PMD). The unknown signal levels and clock phase of the incoming signals need to be accounted for proper reception. A variety of “level recovery” techniques have been proposed to account for the unknown levels of the signals. The level recovery techniques convert the amplitudes and offsets of the received signals to controlled binary amplitude signals, e.g. by determining a signal threshold level that separates a zero bit from a one bit. For example, the threshold can be obtained by averaging the signal over a period of time, detecting the peak values of the signal, and then finding the mean value between the peaks, or by other means. However, such detection schemes are substantially analog techniques, and as such, are prone to errors and do not account for the unknown clock phase in the signals. In addition, a variety of “clock recovery” techniques are proposed to account for the unknown clock phase in the signals. Typically, in PONs the frequency of an incoming burst signal is known, but its phase is unknown. Therefore, many techniques are proposed to phase align the receiver's local clock to the incoming burst signal's clock phase. Such techniques include using phase-locked loops, time over-sample, and/or parallel delay line processing. However, such schemes do not address the unknown levels of the signals and assume that the clock recovery circuit is receiving a proper digital signal, e.g. comprising proper and distinguishable zero bit and one bit levels.